Jarolin severs his ties with Caps to return to Slovakia

ROSS DEWAR

Edinburgh CAPITALS’ top scorer Rene Jarolin will not be returning for a third season with the Murrayfield ice hockey club.

The sharp-shooting forward has opted to go back to his home country of Slovakia, signing for HC Dukla Senica, who play in the country’s second tier.

Capitals co-owner Scott Neil admits it was no surprise that Jarolin, who scored 75 goals in his two years with the Caps, chose not to stay on after his family failed to settle in Edinburgh.

Neil said: “We were kind of expecting this to be honest, and have known since Christmas there was a strong possibility he wasn’t going to come back. Last season we expected his family to move over to Edinburgh with him, but unfortunately it didn’t work out and he’s decided he needs to be closer to home in order to spend more time with them. Rene’s a great player who has done a terrific job for us and it will be a difficult task for someone to live up to him.

“However, we’re confident we can get players of that calibre, someone who can score us 30-odd goals a season, and we’re working on that as we speak.”